COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork had to walk a fine line when seeking ways to enhance the fan experience at Ohio Stadium.
The Horseshoe is a cathedral in college football, one rooted in tradition centered around Ohio State football — a prestigious program eight months removed from its ninth national title. There are things not meant to be touched, particularly for an athletic director in his second year on the job.
However, while historic, Ohio Stadium isn’t immune to change.
It seats north of 100,000 fans, but its gameday experience isn’t always the most raucous. The crowd gets up for big games and massive moments, but there are lulls not seen at arenas such as Oregon’s.
Bjork wanted to address that, so he introduced “Tradition Evolved” – an initiative from the athletic department aimed at honoring the past while, “stepping into the future.”
The goal was clear: “No matter the game time, provide consistency and never have any sort of quiet moments,” Bjork told cleveland.com.
Ohio State has gotten to run its new gameday script through three games, each in a different time slot.
The results haven’t been perfect, but they’ve been effective.
Ohio State combatting noon kickoffs
Ohio State has been the victim, if such a term exists within a lucrative contract, of the Big Ten’s partnership with Fox. The Buckeyes have the biggest brand in the conference, so they often find themselves featured on Big Noon Kickoff — limiting the number of night games inside Ohio Stadium.
Last week’s win against Ohio was Ohio State’s fourth home night game since the start of the 2023 season. LSU has had 14 such games in that time span.
The Buckeyes can’t do much to change that until the end of the decade, tasking Bjork’s staff with finding ways to keep environments lively regardless of kickoff time.
“We can’t control what happens in the game,” Bjork said. “We can’t control game time, per se, but we can control the script.”
Ohio State implemented new traditions, ranging from a pregame victory bell ringer to “THE towel.” Large speakers were placed at field level to improve audio. In-game presentations, such as the acknowledgement of sponsors, were moved off the field to a stage in the north end zone.
“Those are the kind of things that we just wanted to be consistent based on the script itself of the game,” Bjork said.
Ross Bjork is in his second year as Ohio State’s athletic director. Getty ImagesA temporary success has a permanent solution en route
The addition of temporary speakers doesn’t catch eyes when written on a press release, but for Ohio State, it’s been among the most successful tweaks to the gameday experience.
Along with the speakers embedded into Ohio Stadium’s concourse and seating area, the on-field speakers project sound toward the fans — amplifying the band and making it easier to hear the public address announcer or emcee.
“Create more noise,” Bjork said. “That was the whole goal.”
The results are felt for opposing teams.
The bass from the speakers vibrates through the student section bleachers located above the visiting tunnel.
“I don’t think anyone realized the power that it was going to create,” Bjork said. “The band loves it. The fans love it… It’s been an awesome addition.”
Ohio Stadium seats more than 100,000 fans.The Plain Dealer
The speakers are a temporary solution, but permanent improvements are on the horizon.
Ohio State plans to have a new distributed sound system inside The Horseshoe. New LED ribbon boards and video boards will also be added.
Some elements could be completed in time for the 2026 season. Bjork said the full package will be completed no later than the 2027 campaign.
Where the Ohio Stadium experience can improve
The enhancements to the gameday experience have yielded positive results, but it hasn’t been perfect.
A temporary speaker near the band was too loud last week, creating some issues.
The end-of-first-quarter song – “Ohio” by Caamp – is supposed to elicit emotion toward the state, but its lack of an up-beat nature makes it easy to miss.
“THE towels” were handed out to fans for the season opener vs. Texas, but they haven’t been a fixture at games vs. Grambling State and Ohio.
The ringing of the victory bell often gets a loud reaction — particularly with Ohio State greats Archie Griffin, John Cooper and Clark Kellogg holding the honors so far — but there’s an awkward pause between the new tradition and the Buckeyes’ emergence from the tunnel.
Some of the new ideas may stick and, once ironed out, become core pieces of the Ohio Stadium experience.
Others might not, which isn’t an issue as long as the ultimate goal is achieved.
“There’s things that will take time, but I think people are walking away going, ‘I noticed the difference. I was entertained. There was never a down moment,’” Bjork said. “Those are the things that we wanted to accomplish.”
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